Swine flu death rate here one of highest in EuropeSHAREPRINTEMAILTEXT SIZE NORMALLARGEEXTRA LARGEBy Eilish O'ReganSaturday January 02 2010THE death toll here from swine flu is disproportionately high comparedwith other European states.

A total of 22 people have died here as a result of the virus, puttingIreland 12th in Europe for fatalities. In contrast, the Netherlands,with a population of more than 16.5 million people, has had just 52deaths.

A table, covering 29 countries, was released by the the EuropeanCentre for Disease Prevention and Control.

It sets out the number of reported deaths up to Christmas Eve from thepandemic virus that caused a worldwide alert last year.

It comes as the Department of Health has reported no new deaths fromswine flu in the Republic over Christmas, during which time the spreadof the disease fell significantly, affecting 1,034 people comparedwith more than 2,000 the previous week.

Lethal

However, although the trends are reassuring, the latest Europeanreport reveals how the virus, although mild for most sufferers, hasbeen lethal for at least 832 people. It has claimed the most lives inBritain (156), followed by France (150), Germany (123), theNetherlands (52) and Greece (49).

During Christmas, 149 Irish people remained hospitalised with swineflu and 10 of these were seriously ill in intensive care.

According to the European report, Bulgaria continues to have a highintensity of swine flu along with Greece.

Ireland is categorised as having medium intensity, while countriesseeing relatively low spread of the virus include Britain, Belgium,the Netherlands and Cyprus.

The age groups who most needed to be hospitalised with the virus inthe Republic so far have been children under 15 years of age followedby people under 24 years of age. The lowest rate has been among peopleover 65. About 42pc of those who were hospitalised had pre-existingconditions such as chronic heart disease, liver disease, kidneydisease, asthma and diabetes.

The rate of swine flu illness has been highest in the west and southof the country, while the midlands has seen the lowest level of swineflu infections.

Up to last Sunday, the rate of infection among the 0-4 years of agegroup also fell to 27.6 per 100,000 compared with 113.7 per 100,000for the previous week. The rate among the 5-14 years of age group alsohalved to 19.2 per 100,000.

The closure of schools and creches due to the holiday season wasexpected to be one of the factors leading to the drop among youngchildren and teenagers. The department stressed, however, that therates among children under five years of age were still relativelyhigh.

"Children in this age group are more at risk of being hospitalisedfrom flu complications and the department and the Health ServiceExecutive would urge all parents to arrange to have their childrenunder five vaccinated as soon as possible," a spokesman said.

"The vaccine programme through schools will resume after the holidays.Babies aged under six months cannot get the swine flu vaccine, but wewill offer a vaccine to everyone living with a child under six monthsto protect the baby. Appointments can be made for a vaccination clinicon www.swineflu.ie or by contacting the HSE Information Line on 185024 1850."

The Irish Medicines Board said that up to last Wednesday, 907 reportsof suspected adverse reactions to the swine flu vaccine were received.

The reports received remained consistent with the expected pattern ofadverse effects for the pandemic vaccines. The benefits versus therisks of both vaccines remained positive, said the spokesman.